Breakdown of Ellos llevan mucho tiempo leyendo sobre la teoría y la práctica.
y
and
leer
to read
ellos
they
mucho
many / a lot
el tiempo
the time
sobre
on / over / about (a topic)
llevar
to have been (doing) for a time
la teoría
the theory
la práctica
the practice
Questions & Answers about Ellos llevan mucho tiempo leyendo sobre la teoría y la práctica.
Why is "llevan" used here instead of a past tense, if they started reading in the past?
In Spanish, when an action started in the past and is still continuing right now, you use the verb llevar in the present tense, followed by the amount of time (mucho tiempo), and then the gerund (leyendo). English uses the present perfect continuous ("have been reading") for this.
Could I say "han estado leyendo" instead of "llevan leyendo"?
Can I change the word order and put "leyendo" right after "llevan"?
Why are there "la"s in front of "teoría" and "práctica"? The English translation doesn't say "the theory".
In Spanish, you generally need to use definite articles (like el or la) before abstract nouns or general concepts when discussing them in a broad sense. English drops the article for general concepts like "theory and practice", but Spanish requires it.
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